How about Chinese single dose contraceptive pill?

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
SARAH Mutale, 35, is aware of the economic implications of having more children.
The mother of three knows there is a risk of failing to finance the needs of children should they be more, and because of her fears, she and her husband, Francis, have agreed not to go beyond three children.
For Mrs Mutale, a complete stop to having children is the best option for her but she does not know how.
One day she opted to find out on various family planning methods available. At the same time, she fears she might experience complications if she takes options that require a serious operation to prevent an unplanned pregnancy.
This led the couple to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) to seek advice on the available planning options.
Mr and Mrs Mutale of Lusaka’s Longacres area managed to access the birth control pill.
The pill is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women to prevent pregnancy.
But three years ago, Mrs Mutale had challenges with adherence to the oral contraceptive pill.
And after she shared her predicament with her workmate, she learnt of the new option which has become popular on the market among women who want to prevent pregnancy.
The Chinese single dose monthly contraceptive pill, also referred to as a once-a-month contraceptive pill, is now becoming common among women.
Asked on the efficiency of the pill, Mrs Mutale says she has had no major side-effects from the time she started taking the drug.
“I like the elasticity, you take it once a month and all I do is indicate on my kitchen calendar right on top of the kitchen unit and this gets me reminded of the next due date,” Mrs Mutale says.
Mrs Mutale is not alone. Limited access to family planning services, fears about side effects, opposition from partners and religious beliefs have led to Zambia having one of the highest unmet needs for contraception in Southern Africa according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report on access to family planning.
And the report indicates that this unmet need for family planning is highest among illiterate women in rural areas in Zambia.
But with the coming of the Chinese pill on the market, some women have taken up the option.
Another user of the Chinese pill, Precious Kagulula of Lusaka’s Madras area, says she first heard of the Chinese pill in 2015 and a year later, she tried it.
“I have had no side effects and I think it has worked well for me. I have been on it since 2016. I would gladly recommend any woman especially working women to consider being on the Chinese pill,” Mrs Kagulula says.
Although easily purchased in Lusaka at prices varying between K30 to K50 per pill, the purchase goes with no prior medical examination or counselling.
An on-the-spot check at a Chinese clinic in Lusaka in Libala area found the pill going at K30 and easily accessed with no receipts issued for the purchase.
It was the same case at another clinic located in Lusaka’s Northmead area where a pill is sold at K50.
But health authorities in Zambia have maintained that the Chinese contraceptive pills are illegal in Zambia.
Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Kennedy Malama says women should be cautious when using them because it’s not clear what they contain, and some women have reported serious side-effects, including heavy bleeding.
“It is not recommended to take medication that has no name. People should be worried of such medication and desist from taking it,” Dr Malama says.
At the dispensary section at the Chinese clinic, the attendant said the pills are herbal contraceptives and have no major side-effects.“We have had no complaints from the time we started dispensing the pill. Actually we have a lot of new clients coming for it on a daily basis. The Chinese pill is a popular option for Zambian women seeking non-hormonal contraceptives,” the attendant said.
But some women who have taken the pill say it causes heavy bleeding.
“I experienced heavy bleeding for the first months but thereafter my body got used and I have had no problem. The only challenge is that the pack for the same pill is written in Chinese language, it would have been helpful if it was done in English. And selling of the pill is strictly one pill a month, so once it is time for that month’s dose, I always go back to the clinic to purchase it,” Jacklyn Choongo, another user of Lusaka’s Thornpark area says.
It’s not clear how the pills get to Zambia, or when they first arrived in the country, but the World Health Organisation notes that Chinese contraceptives flow freely into Southeast Asia.
According to the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority guidelines, one of the prerequisites for medicines sold or given to patients in Zambia is that the instructions on the said medicine should be in English.
But for the Chinese pill, the instructions are in Chinese, a language not familiar to Zambians.
ZAMRA public relations officer Ludovic Mwape says the pill is illegal in Zambia and investigations are under way to determine for how long the practice has been going on.
“In the first place, the medicine coming to Zambia must be in English. But for the Chinese, there was an exception that they (Chinese) should bring in medicine in Chinese because it was meant for their people (Chinese speaking). But now that we have Zambians accessing it, it comes to us as a matter that we are handling with the urgency it deserves,” Mr Mwape says.
Further, ZAMRA is carrying out investigations on how the pill has found its way into the country and why Chinese clinics are giving it out to Zambians that do not understand the language of instructions on the pill. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON JULY 22, 2018. LINK: https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/how-about-chinese-single-dose-contraceptive-pill/

Does men involvement in maternal health care matter?

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
WALKING into Kafue District Hospital for antenatal care while holding hands with her husband is not a new trend for Precious Chunga, 29, a mother of one.
For Mrs Chunga of Kafue’s C7 section, the first time her husband accompanied her for the routine maternal care was during her first pregnancy three years ago.
At that time, the couple’s action shocked many people.
“The neighbours called me names and accused me of indoctrinating my husband all because whenever it was time for antenatal checkups, he would prefer we first go to the clinic before he goes for work,” Mrs Chunga says.
She says going for routine medical checkups has helped her sail through pregnancy and even after giving birth.
“I believe a pregnancy is not the responsibility of a wife or woman alone, it is for both whether married or not,” she says.
Mrs Chunga adds, “There are times when the medical staff gives instructions or any explanation regarding the pregnancy and when you have a husband or partner accompanying you, it becomes easier in case he has questions regarding anything.”
The role of husbands in maternal health is often overlooked by society and families in many communities in Zambia.
“I have learnt that support from our husbands or indeed male partners has long lasting benefits for both the developing child and the expectant mother,” Mrs Chunga says.
She recalls that during her first pregnancy, she would feel ashamed of going for the routine checkups with her husband but with time, she got used such that whatever people in her community said did not matter to her.
“It looks like it is against the norm but my husband and I have vowed to defy it. I want to be the change to this trend, we need men present at all stages in the process of women giving a life,” Mrs Chunga says.
But do men have an important role in maternal and newborn health care both as partners and parents?
Mr Chunga feels in today’s society, it is easy to forget that there are some major differences between the genders.
“While your pregnant wife spends nine months growing a baby inside of her, you will be left to watch from the outside.,” Mr Kuteng’a Chunga says.
Mr Chunga says from experience, he has leant that being pregnant is tough.
“I want her to be as happy and comfortable as possible, and I always did whatever I could to help Precious,” Mr Chunga says.
The pregnancy process for many men is a little bewildering. Not knowing what to do, they end up nervously backing away instead of stepping up the support when their women need them the most.
But for Mr Chunga, it was time to learn more about the baby and the expectant mother.
As heads of the family, men mostly control resources and serve as the final authority on several happenings in homes.
Surprisingly, beyond that, many men seem to have no expectation of any further role during antenatal care and therefore find it unnecessary to attend clinics with their partners.
In patriarchal settings, the role of men can be complex and social and cultural traditions may conflict.
But medically, men’s role during antenatal care has several benefits both physically and mentally for both the expectant mother and the unborn child.
A community health assistant at Kafue District Hospital, Joseph Zulu says the trend is slowly changing.
“We now see at least two or three pregnant women come with their husbands or partners for the antenatal routine checkups. It was not so a few years ago,” Mr Zulu says.
In cases where men accompany their wives, the couples are given priority.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the involvement of men in maternal and newborn health as a priority.
It is one of eight “strong recommendations” on a list of 12 in its just-published WHO recommendations on health promotion interventions for maternal and newborn health.
It recommends further research into a family approach, looking also at other key family relationships around the mother and baby.
One of the recommendations reads: “Interventions to promote the involvement of men during pregnancy, childbirth and after birth are recommended to facilitate and support improved self-care of women, improved home care practices for women and newborns, improved use of skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period for women and newborns, and increase the timely use of facility care for obstetric and newborn complications.”
And renowned gynecologist Swebby Macha says the role of husbands in maternity care is important for safe childbirth.
“Men should be present because their being around gives a pregnant woman emotional support and also helps in the development of the pregnancy,” Dr Macha says.
Dr Macha says a woman’s memory takes a dive during pregnancy and sometimes she may be nervous and excited, hence she might rely on her partner to remind her about what medication to take and what food to eat at what time.
In Zambia, pregnancy and childbirth has been women’s domain and maternal health care services have focused on women, with very little male involvement. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON JULY 8, 2018. LINK: https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/does-men-involvement-in-maternal-health-care-matter/

Getting to Nacala Corridor through Great East Road

THE starting point of the newly rehabilitated Great East Road from immediately after the Luangwa Bridge from Lusaka. Right, a Malawian truck driver Edwin Banda at Mwami Border after driving through the-newly rehabilitated road.

DOREEN NAWA, Chipata
THE story is perhaps familiar to a lot of people on how the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Southern Rhodesia in 1965 affected Zambia which was only months old as an independent country.The UDI turned to be a major blow for Zambia because it had been tied to the southern African trading system since the beginning of the twentieth century.
Zambia’s external trade depended on the Rhodesia Railways and was routed through South Africa and Mozambique; copper was exported through the ports of Durban, Port Elizabeth and Beira and imports were mainly sourced in South Africa, until the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, when the Southern Rhodesian industry developed and became the main supplier of the Zambian market. But products not available in South Africa and Rhodesia continued to transit through the ports of South Africa and Mozambique.
Yet, only five weeks after UDI, Zambia’s access to these routes was cut off. The country had to spend the ensuing five years trying to divert its imports and exports from the southern African ports mainly to the port of Dar es Salaam.
But so much has changed since then with all the countries in the region gaining majority rule and opening up to regional integration.
As the countries move towards regional initiatives such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern Africa Development Co-operation (SADC), ways of overcoming southern Africa’s regional transport hurdles continue being sought.
One of these initiatives involves connecting Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the Nacala Corridor which links them to the port of Beira, located about 1,200 kilometres north of the Mozambican capital of Maputo. This is the port that handles the import and export cargoes for Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and even the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In Zambia, the route connecting to the Nacala Corridor is the Lusaka-Mwami Border road which has partly been rehabilitated in line with the expansion plan on the Nacala Transport Corridor in SADC.
In 2013, the government of Zambia contracted Condril and Mota Engil construction companies to rehabilitate the 375 kilometre stretch from Luangwa Bridge to Mwami Border, at a cost of €168.7 million.
The road project is co-financed by the European Union (EU) through the European Development Fund (EDF), which is a grant, and loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Agency for Development (AFD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The road is one of Zambia’s major plans to open new trade routes.
The current state of this road shows quality works.
Some users interviewed say the rehabilitated road has increased traffic through Eastern Province to the coastal port of Beira.
A Malawian truck driver, Edwin Banda, describes the road as a perfect link within the southern Africa region.
“I wish the works on the Luangwa-Mwami Border road can be extended to cover the Luangwa-Lusaka road and also the Katete-Chanida border road. I say so because from my understanding, this road project is meant to open the Nacala Corridor to Beira, in Mozambique, but without working on these missing links, then the connection will not make sense,” Mr Banda says. “The dream will not be realised.”
Mr Banda says poor infrastructure leads to the cost of transporting goods in the region to being high.
“I have been a truck driver for 32 years now and from my interactions and experience, I have come to learn that SADC goods compete less with those from other regions on the continent because of poor transport facilities,” he says.
Musonda Chitala, a Zambian truck driver agrees.
“A poor transport system acts as a non-tariff trade barrier,” Mr Chitala says before adding that indeed, bad roads cost lives.
“I know what a bad road can do to a family, a community and above all the region. On several occasions while on the road delivering goods, I have witnessed a lot of fatalities. I can safely say that the region’s road fatality share is huge, all because of the bad roads.”
But it is not only the truck drivers who appreciate the importance of a good road network.
Marjory Simwamba, a crossborder trade, says the Luangwa-Mwami Border road has now eased her movements between Lusaka and Blantyre in Malawi.
“Before the road was done, travelling from Luangwa to Mwami Border was taking over six hours by bus, but now, we take three to four hours, which is good for us as traders because the longer you spend travelling, the more expensive it becomes,” Ms Simwamba says.
Chipata City Council Mayor Sinoya Mwale says connectivity and low-cost transport facilities like good road networks provide opportunities for any country and increases their accessibility standard.
“Transport and communications systems have an important bearing on economic integration and development because they can be significant non-tariff barriers,” Mr Mwale says.
He says reducing the distance between people, markets, services and knowledge or simply getting people connected is a great part of what economic growth is all about.
There is a very strong positive correlation between a country’s or indeed region’s economic development and the quality of its road network.
The National Authorisation Office, which is under the Ministry of Finance and is mandated to manage funds from the EU through the European Development Fund, is impressed with the road works on the Luangwa Bridge-Mwami Border road.
Co-ordinator Chasiya Kazembe says the Luangwa-Mwami Border road will make a crucial contribution to economic development and growth and bring important social benefits on the Nacala Corridor as well as Zambia.
“…A [good] road network is crucial in economic growth. Roads open up more areas and stimulate economic and social development,” Ms Kazembe says. “Road infrastructure is the most important of all public assets.”
The Zambian government in particular has nevertheless made significant efforts to improve the road situation connecting the Nacala Corridor as seen in the speedy rehabilitation of the T-4 also known as the Great East road. PUBLISHED ON JULY 7, 2018 IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL. LINK: http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/getting-to-nacala-corridor-through-great-east-road/